Music

Cardi B is playing Santa Claus this year -- only she's doing it without the big red hat, reindeer or sleigh -- and will bring smiles to a ton of kid's faces.

Cardi was spotted in Miami Friday spending a bunch of money on gifts for kids at a local Target store. The rapper also had a U-HAUL rented to load the presents and ship em off for those in need.

We're told in total, Cardi spent about $5,000 on everything from games, dolls, car sets and more. She had staffers help her load everything up in the truck.

It's unclear exactly where the gifts will go -- Cardi talked about helping kids out in New York -- but nonetheless, it's an awesome gesture.

Cardi's daughter, Kulture, will be celebrating her second Christmas this year, and if mom's spending for other kids on Friday is any indication ... it's about to be a big year.

Merry Christmas from Cardi Claus!!!

Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is 25 this year ... and she's landed just about every A-lister in Hollywood to help her celebrate.

Carey just released a brand new music video for the holiday classic with some of her celeb friends singing along to the tune. Features include Kim Kardashian West, James Corden, Ariana Grande, Floyd Mayweather, Chance The Rapper, Katy Perry, Snoop Dogg and Tyler Perry ... just to name a few. In total, there's more than 50 stars in the video.

It's a pretty incredible piece, and shows the power of the tune ... her twins Moroccan and Monroe also make cameos in the project.

Mariah and team launched a massive campaign to get the song to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 a couple weeks ago ... and last week it hit the top of the chart.

Kanye West brought his city-hopping opera to NYC -- and while much of it was the same -- Yeezy added some Christmas flare to the latest tour stop.

Kanye, his choir and band hit Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall Sunday to perform "Mary." The stage was decked out in plants, over 100 choir members and props to tell the story of Jesus' birth from the eyes of his mother.

The choir belted out songs from Kanye's "Jesus is King" album -- as they normally have -- but there was also a rendition of "The Little Drummer Boy" added to the setlist.

Dave Chappelle, Bradley Cooper and Kim Kardashian West were among the stars in the crowd ... and Kanye voiced much of the show from offstage.

It's been a family affair for the West's in NYC -- we got Kim, Kanye and the kids leaving The Ritz Friday -- North was definitely in a holiday mood.

Judi Dench really gave "Cats" the finger ... in fact, she gave the audience 5 of them and a wedding ring to boot, in a major flub/oversight.

If you dared to subject yourself to the 2-hour-long feline flick, you may have noticed a decidedly human feature on Dench ... a human hand with a band of gold.

There have been other flubs in the flick, but this one's pretty hilarious.

Universal reportedly notified thousands of theaters they'd be receiving an updated version of the movie with "some improved visual effects."

Jason Derulo, one of the movie's stars has been VERY open in discussing edits. Derulo says his junk had to be CGI'd out of the film because it was just too big ... and looked weird on his cat body.

Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson and James Corden are also in the movie -- which can't be saved on star power alone -- it's currently pulling and 18% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Pete Wentz gives the third in the 'Star Wars' trilogy his stamp of approval, but after a 42-year journey amassing millions of fans and billions of dollars ... he doesn't expect everyone to agree.

The Fall Out Boy bassist was out in Studio City, and we got him shortly after he took in 'The Rise of Skywalker' ... which he tells us he liked a lot, and calls "an amazing fairy tale."

Pete does admit there were some parts of the film he wasn't totally into, but settles on it being "pretty darn good" ... which is much better than what many folks felt about 'The Last Jedi.'

Wentz addresses that too, telling us "spoiled" fans should consider themselves lucky to be debating the quality of new 'Star Wars' projects -- and whether the partnership with Disney helped or hurt them -- because when he was a kid ... all of this seemed unimaginable.

He also urges fans to have fun while debating the films with each other online and elsewhere, and if there are disagreements ... just be respectful.

Kanye West seems ready to switch things up for his second go-around on 'Mary' -- this time, kids are going to be directly involved, as will a big surprise guest ... supposedly.

The rapper's in NYC right now, where he's hours away from his 2nd performance of his latest opera at Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall. On Saturday, he was in rehearsals ... and a bunch of tykes were spotted onstage at the David H. Koch Theater across the way -- where we're told everyone was warming up their pipes and getting the cues down.

People on the scene tell us they saw the kids rehearsing their singing too, as we're told it appears they're going to be incorporated into the chorus of adults -- made up of Ye's Sunday Service choir, of course. That's different than what he did at Art Basel 2 weeks ago.

Kodak Black isn't letting a little thing like prison bars stop him from giving back this holiday season -- because the guy's opening up his wallet and shelling out for strangers.

The rapper's attorney, Bradford Cohen, tells TMZ ... KB is giving thousands of dollars away this Christmas -- to both charities, religious institutions and individual families. We're told Kodak has authorized his camp to buy an allotment of toys for the Paradise Day Care Center in Broward County, FL ... which will be dished out to kids from 70 different families in need.

The children range in age, from 2 to 7-year-old ... who'll get bikes, dolls and a ton of other stuff on behalf of inmate 18149 at FCC Miami (that's Kodak, BTW). But wait, there's more!!!

Cody Simpson and Miley Cyrus are either playing with our hearts before Christmas, or these signs are being misread. Regardless, allow us to ask ... everything alright here?

The Australian heartthrob singer was spotted out Saturday in NYC, walking alongside Playboy model Jordy Murray -- who's actually the December 2019 Playmate. So, yeah -- she's a hottie herself. What's even more curious ... no sign of Miley anywhere for this SoHo stroll.

Speaking of MC, she posted a message discussing a song she wrote about being lonely for the holidays, but it had a positive vibe ... which encouraged folks to love themselves.

Miley wrote, "In ways that still feels relevant and someone reading this right now could possibly relate! If you feel lonely this season just know YOU ARE COMPLETELY MADE OF MAGIC!" She added, "You are as special as a snowflake , beautifully unique and I hope inside your soul feels light, hope , peace and joy knowing how singularly amazing YOU are!"

She finished her heartfelt message with ... "Love always wins!" Seems simple enough, but in light of Cody surfacing with another woman the same day, it sorta reads differently now.

As for when we last saw these two together in public, it appears to have been about two weeks ago in L.A. -- where Cody tagged along with Miley to a youth homeless shelter.

We also know they might be starting a band, but when it comes to social media -- Miley and Cody haven't appeared much together in couple-y photos for a while. The last thing Cody posted with Miley was on Nov. 23, and Miley put something up in late Oct./early Nov.

They started getting romantic soon after Miley and Kaitlynn Carter broke things off, and they were hot and heavy for a minute, especially as Miley underwent some medical procedures.

Kanye West has a simple message on what people should take away from his journey in 2019 -- but his son has an even louder one that might resonate more.

We got the Kardashian-West family Saturday in NYC, where they left a restaurant and boarded a waiting SUV with two of their kids in tow ... North and Saint, who were feeling chatty after dinner. Saint had a firm message for the paps standing by ... they didn't listen.

As Kim got the kids situated in the car, we asked Ye what it was he wanted folks to know or remember about him and his religious awakening from this past year ... which was pretty much a complete 180 from his rocky 2018 and mostly positive, all things considered.

At the start of this year, Kanye pivoted away from politics and dove head first into music -- and as it turned out, God too. His Sunday Services seemed to be his focal point, which started indoors but quickly went outside ... and, eventually, to Coachella and beyond.

Drake has completed his fly-boy look with something folks thought he would've had done years ago ... getting his ears pierced. And, the reason he finally did it is hilarious.

Otniel Pichardo, who's the owner of Atlanta Ink -- a tattoo and piercing studio in the ATL -- tells TMZ ... Drizzy's team called up their shop Friday night out of the blue and requested Otniel and the crew come to Drake's hotel in Buckhead, Atlanta for a personal session.

Apparently, the rapper's camp did a quick Google search of the best piercers in the area, and Atlanta Ink came up close to the top in the results. Talk about having a good rep!!!

Anyway, Otniel rolled out with his biz partner, CJ, and their best piercer, Christian, and they hit up Drake's hotel room ... where none other than Champagne Papi himself was waiting. We're told Drake wanted his ears pierced ... and naturally, was kinda nervous about it.

Wyclef Jean says there's something way more important than just producing or performing on a track, and that's publishing ... a moneymaking well he wants to help new artists tap.

The Fugees rapper talked to us Friday in NYC about his new industry venture -- a publishing and distribution company he started and just got major financial backing for called Carnival World Music Group -- which is meant to give a big leg up to up-and-coming creatives.

The idea behind it is that Wyclef and co. will offer royalty advances to artists, producers and songwriters who want to get their music out there, but without taking copyright ownership.

Check it out ... Wyclef says the focus of the company is for Africans, but that doesn't mean he's excluding anyone who wants to partner up. Come one, come all, pretty much.

As for why he's doing this ... the guy says he's learned a valuable lesson from his many years in the game, and it's basically this -- producing/rapping/singing only makes you so much cash. The real green comes from publishing rights, which are often awarded to the songwriters, composers and the publishing companies those people are affiliated with.

Take, for example, "Killing Me Softly." He says while he produced the iconic cover, he and the Fugees didn't make the millions they should have because they didn't write or compose the new version. Most of that money presumably went to Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel.

Blueface jumped into a brawl that involved his own crew beating on a guy who allegedly tried snatching the rapper's bling ... which is a shame because he was dressed to impress.

The rapper popped up Friday night with his entourage at the Blue Moon Hookah Lounge in Downtown L.A., where he even got on stage at one point and performed for a bit. Blueface was rocking what appears to be a Burberry puffer coat, which retails at $1,390.

Bottom line ... it doesn't look like Blueface was looking for trouble. Unfortunately, it seemed to find him nonetheless.

Eyewitnesses tell TMZ ... word around the lounge was that some dude tried stealing Blueface's chain right off of him -- something we know people attempt to do when rappers make public appearances like this. That said, it's unclear what exactly sparked this beatdown.

Either way, the guy certainly pissed someone off and got his ass handed to him as a result. We're told security eventually broke it up, and Blueface and co. left shortly thereafter. Similar to the time he jumped into the mix of another brawl up in Santa Cruz.

50 Cent just spoiled his son rotten for Christmas ... getting an entire Toys 'R' Us on lock and letting the kid have whatever his heart desired. Jealous much?

The rapper pulled the ultimate parenting move this weekend for his 7-year-old, Sire, by renting out an entire store in New Jersey -- only one of two locations open at the moment -- and closing it off to the public while his boy went around and picked out anything that caught his eye and letting him take it all home as his gift(s) for the holiday.

Basically, a personal shopping spree for a kid ... which became even more of a custom experience with Sire's name and mug incorporated into the presentation. A decal on the ground read 'Sire's Toys R Us' ... not even Charlie Bucket could've dreamt of this.

As for how much all of this cost ... we're told Fitty dropped a pretty penny to give his son the best Christmas ever -- about $100k to have this place to himself and Sire.

Hell, it looks the cash went so far as to pull Geoffrey the Giraffe out of retirement -- who posed with 50 and Sire in a sweet photo-op. You'll recall, Toys 'R' Us temporarily closed up shop last year -- but it's being brought back, slowly but surely, under new ownership.

Britney Spears and company mean business when anyone insinuates her conservatorship is secretly harming her ... because her people just nailed a hater with a big, fat injunction.

Britney's dad, Jamie, just got the order, prohibiting a guy named Anthony Elia from talking smack about the conservatorship. As we reported, Elia created the "Absolute Britney" blog suggesting Jamie and his team were manipulating Britney's Instagram account to make it look like she needs help when she did not ... in other words to make it look like she needs a conservatorship.

Elia went so far as to call the treatment of Britney "a human rights violation." What especially enraged Jamie ... that Elia says he came to the conclusion on a "gut feeling."

Jamie and his lawyer, Larry Stein, claimed this is defamation, pure and simple, and went to court to muzzle Elia.

The judge saw it Jamie's way and ordered Elia to immediately stop his claims ... especially those suggesting the conservatorship is harming Britney.

Marc Anthony's burned out yacht is posing a significant danger to Miami's coastal waters -- so the federal government's stepping in to assist ... but it ain't gonna be cheap.

As you know, Marc's $7 million yacht, the Andiamo, burst into flames Wednesday night in a Miami marina, and despite valiant efforts ... the vessel went under. It's still resting mostly submerged, and it will until divers tackle the issue of fuel leaks.

The U.S. Coast Guard tells TMZ ... the government is dipping into something called the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to pay for the divers. We're told they're inspecting the wreckage to figure out the best way to clear the engines and tanks.

After the fuel clean up, another company will tow Marc's baby to dry dock where investigators can determine what caused the fire. Officials estimate the job will cost about $300,000 -- that's how much they pulled from the fund.

Now, before ya fire off an angry email to Congress ... the feds only front that $300k.

We're told the government will seek reimbursement from Marc, or more likely, his insurance company, once the job is done. So, if you need to know ... taxpayers will NOT be paying to raise his yacht.

The perps who allegedly busted a window of Boosie Badazz's Bentley SUV and jacked $70k in jewelry were caught on camera ... and so was their escape as the rapper's buddy gave chase.

Surveillance video of the burglary -- obtained by TMZ -- shows 2 men in dark clothes approach the passenger side of Boosie's ride and hang out there for several moments ... presumably, this is when they broke his rear passenger window to get in.

Cops say an alarm scared them off temporarily, but as you can see ... they return in a black sedan and one jumps out to grab something. Then they make their getaway -- which doesn't go too smoothly -- but they still manage to outrun B-Will, a rapper who works with Boosie.

We broke the story ... the suspected thieves allegedly swiped 2 diamond and rose gold rings worth $10k and a $50k necklace. Boosie posted a video about one of those rings -- a diamond-encrusted "BOSSMAN" piece -- because he was pissed about it getting stolen.

Cops are still investigating, but so far no arrests. As for the guy driving the getaway car ... remind you of anyone?